CALABASAS, AGOURA : Schools Weigh New Security Measures

In the wake of two recent attacks on students in nearby districts, Las Virgenes Unified School District officials are considering new security measures and urging students to report rumors of violence.

The Las Virgenes school board Monday directed its staff to determine the costs of purchasing hand-held radios, and installing fences and security equipment at Agoura and Calabasas high schools.

Although the safety measures have been under consideration for months, they are “more relevant” now, Assistant Supt. Donald Zimring said.

“We are getting more and more concerned as we watch what is happening in schools in surrounding communities,” he said. “And we want to do something in order to be proactive instead of reactive.”

Last week, a student was stabbed to death by a classmate at Valley View Junior High in Simi Valley, and three Westlake High School students were injured when someone started shooting into a crowd that had gathered to watch a fight in Thousand Oaks.

Those incidents prompted parents and school officials to meet Monday in Agoura Hills and Wednesday in Calabasas to discuss school safety.

“We’re telling parents that their communication with their kids and their kids’ communication with us is essential to safety,” Agoura High Principal Jim Christianson said. “With these other incidents, kids knew what was going on, but didn’t tell the people who could stop it.”

Christianson said he hopes that parents and students will begin to use a crime tip hot line set up last spring in Calabasas and expanded last month to include Agoura Hills.

Callers to the toll-free phone number--(800) SPEEK-UP--may leave anonymous tips about crimes or suspicious activity on an answering machine monitored by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Juvenile Intervention Team, Sheriff’s Lt. James Pierson said.

“A lot of time, kids are reluctant to give their names and would prefer to leave information on an answering machine,” Pierson said. “This is a way for us to get information before something happens, like a fight on campus, so we can get there first.”

Although only a few tips have been left, most of which were too vague to be useful, Pierson said, “it’s good to have it available just in case.”